The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department has a bit of a public relations problem on its hands after the unexplained death of an inmate earlier this month. It's stacking up to be a proverbial case of he said, he said. Answers to the mystery of how the man died seem to be slow in coming from official sources.

Mark Anthony Scott, 48, died Jan. 6 while in custody at the main jail in the county. He had been incarcerated since Dec. 1 on outstanding warrants. The official story from the Sheriff's Department is that he was discovered in his cell at 10 o'clock that night. But exactly what happened remains a mystery raising questions of possible wrongful death. An investigation is under way.

There is at least one allegation that the death may have resulted from neglect on the part of jail staff. FOX40 News has reported that it received a letter from an inmate in a neighboring cell describing a string of incidents during the day on which Scott died that open the door to speculation.

The inmate reportedly conveys in the letter that Scott hadn't eaten at all the day he died and that he had begun to vomit blood at some point. He says Scott's cellmate called for help from officers several times, including one time in which he directly pointed out that Scott was bleeding. But officials apparently dismissed the issue.

Later that day, the letter says, the cellmate noticed that Scott wasn't breathing and called for help again. Medical emergency personnel were called this time and reportedly were told by deputies that Scott had only been showing signs of trouble for about an hour.

The Sheriff's Department insists officials were never told that Scott was vomiting blood.

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office has since confirmed that Scott did not die of any sort of trauma. But they say the full results of an autopsy, including toxicology reports, have not been received.

Source: FOX40 News, "Inmate Dies in Cell, Jail Accused of Neglect," Ian McDonald, Jan. 19, 2012